It is becoming common that cable television (CATV) systems, satellite television systems (SATV), and other multimedia environments, are providing digital video recorder (DVR) devices that may be used to record broadcasts. The DVR may be incorporated into a “set-top box,” e.g., a device responsible for breaking the CATV, SATV, etc. broadcast signal into selectable channels for presentation on appropriate multimedia hardware, e.g., a television, stereo, etc., or the DVR it may be in a separate device operating in conjunction with the set-top box, such as a recording device offered by TiVo Inc. of Alviso, Calif.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior-art video recording environment. Conventional DVRs typically operate by allowing a viewer/DVR user to select 100 a show for recording, such as by way of selecting the show off of an electronic program guide (EPG). When the selected show is being broadcast, the DVR receives 102 and records some portion of the show. The recording is made to some mass storage device, such as a 30 or 60 gigabyte hard drive. Unfortunately, even with data compression, DVRs often have insufficient storage to archive many past and/or current broadcasts of interest to a viewer. If the DVR determines 104 that the DVR has run out of space while recording 102 the show, an error occurs. If the DVR has not run out of recording space, then recording continues 108 until complete.